Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Becs Hodgetts · Feb 14, 2020 · Sawatch

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Weather

Clear, calm and warm today.

Snowpack

No signs of instability observed. We dug on a southest aspect near treeline. Snow depth was 130cm. Snowpack consisted of a 60cm slab from soft to hard (F to 1F). This slab sits on ~30cm of facets (1-2mm)over 50cm of depth hoar (2-4mm) to the ground. Test results were hard with: ECTX and CT26RP at 80cm form the surface, on the depth hoar layer. Buckeye A had a significant but tired looking cornice that had calved during the Thursday storm resulting in a D1 avalanche that did not leave the start zone. We deliberately dug in a shallower area. A guesstimate HS for the start zone would be 1.5-2+ meters. Snow surface was moist on south and east slopes to 11000' by 1030am. Below treeline HS ranged from 40-80cms.